Enchanted to Meet You
by kairi4evur
Summary: "I'll spend forever wondering if you knew..." Kenneth/Cerie story that takes place after the events of 1x13 "Up All Night".


_"There I was again tonight, forcing laughter, faking smiles. Same old tired lonely place."_

It was February 14th, 2007, Valentine's Day, and Cerie had ditched work to accommodate her persistent fiancé and meet him at some club. Boy, was that a mistake. For once, that night she didn't feel like raving or dancing. She had too much on her mind.

Though she was normally naïve to the writers' endeavors, she had slowly figured out that they were messing with Kenneth by setting him up with her. Still, he was a nice guy, and anything was better than dealing with Aris and his constant insincere apologetic text messages. So she stayed out with him longer than they were probably supposed to. It was just a game of "Marry, Boff, Kill" gone a bit too far. Liz was right; playing that game with people in the room can get weird.

But Cerie learned that night that she didn't mind weird. In fact, she liked weird. Kenneth was definitely strange, but that made him sort of fascinating to her. He had a funny way of speaking and he said things that she didn't understand, but he never talked down to her. He treated her like he would treat any other person, with kindness and respect. Like an equal. Cerie knew she wasn't very smart, but she hated being treated as such.

She had decided at a young age that she would marry a good looking, rich man so that way she would always have nice things and a trophy husband to show off to her friends. But the more the thought of the marriage began to sink in, the more she second guessed her decision. She failed to realize it though, until a 1 A.M. candy store rendezvous with Kenneth Ellen Parcell.

She remembered what she said to him before she left. _"If you wanna tell those guys up there that we made out, it's all right with me." _Sitting at a table in a dark nightclub, she smiled as she recalled the pleased yet slightly confused look on his face as she gave him one last wave goodbye.

She did not particularly enjoy herself at the club that night. Aris left to go get the two of them drinks and then did not return. She figured he was on the dance floor, but the club was too crowded, she was tired, and she didn't feel like looking for him, so she left early. She figured she should return to work, but instead she just trudged home. That was almost pointless though, because as tired as she was, she could not sleep.

_"The lingering question kept me up. 2 A.M. 'Who do you love?' I wonder 'till I'm wide awake."_

She could not get her time with Kenneth that night out of her head, no matter how hard she tried. She started to think of what she liked about Aris to revert her mind to the man she was actually going to end up with. Well, for one thing, he had plenty of money. They had only been dating for a month and a half and he had already bought her jewelry, a new purse, and a new phone, plus all the flowers he had sent her that day to apologize for the fight they had a few days prior about where their wedding was going to take place. He was also very handsome. He had gorgeous dark hair, a dreamy chiseled face, and a nice body.

What else was there? To be fair to him, he didn't have a _horrible_ personality. He was nice enough if he was willing to keep buying her fancy possessions. It was just that he was kind of clingy and overbearing, and if she had to be honest with herself, she didn't feel 100% right with him. But he was rich and handsome, and he asked her to marry him, and she said yes.

Still, something about Kenneth lit a spark in her mind. He was a kind of person Cerie had long believed did not exist: someone who was genuinely nice to everyone for no other reason than to help people and make them happy. He did everything he did at NBC, not just because it was his job, but also out of the goodness of his heart. Cerie had dealt with plenty of guys who were nice to her and treated her well only because they wanted one thing from her, and they were all gone after they got it. Aris was a step above these guys because he would buy her things and he proposed so quickly, but there was still the fear that he would do the same thing everyone else did hanging in the back of her brain. But with Kenneth, she felt, even though she hadn't known him very long, that he would never do anything to hurt her.

It was like she was meeting him for the first time, and the experience was nothing short of enchanting.

—-

Cerie was not the only one who couldn't stop thinking about their encounter. The whole thing made Kenneth's head spin and his heart jump. Anyone who would bother to think realistically about the scenario would assume that Cerie would be cross with him, or at least passive and inconsiderate. But she wasn't. She was nice to him, and didn't even get angry when he practically devoured her cheek due to being so nervous. She simply laughed it off. Nothing much even happened, but his constant recollection of the evening made him lose focus at work, which was a rare occurrence for him.

Much like Cerie, Kenneth hardly got a wink of sleep that night. In all his years (and he had many more than others would believe), he had never been this taken with someone. He had come to the conclusion that he would only love everybody platonically, because it was easier that way for everyone. But Cerie just seemed so worth it. She was gorgeous, and surprisingly sweet. She showed interest in what he had to say. Though he hardly ever noticed mistreatment, and even so he never complained, it was a nice change of pace to not only be noticed, but to also be listened to.

There was no doubt that Cerie was exceedingly beautiful. Girls like her never looked twice at him, unless it was to repeat an order or request they had given him. In addition to that, Kenneth wasn't the only one with his eye on her. Pretty much all of the males (and some females) had some kind of thing for Cerie. She turned heads when she walked down the hall, and caused uproars of applause when she turned the corner. While Kenneth normally failed to notice this, he still didn't really think he had a chance with her.

But he would still spend the rest of his days wondering if she knew how enchanted he was to meet her.

—-

Within a week, the wedding between Cerie and Aris was called off and they were no longer a couple. They were both sick of the long periods of time that they were on bad terms after a fight, hated the constant uncertainty of their relationship, and realized their engagement came far too soon. The only thing Cerie failed to mention when they broke up is that all week; she had a different guy on her mind. It wasn't necessary anyway. She didn't cheat or plan to cheat. But now, she was free, and she was able to go after what she wanted.

And what she wanted was a certain blonde NBC page.

—-

It had been a week since the events of that year's Valentine's Day. While it was still clinging to the back of his mind, Kenneth was determined to not let it hinder his work efforts. At least until he sat down at his page desk and saw a small slip of paper facing down on top of it. After turning it over, he saw that it read: _"I was enchanted to meet you."_

Kenneth stared at the small note for about a minute before silently opening his drawer and placing the slip of paper inside it, so it would be safe and he would not lose it. He closed the drawer, and then put his elbow on his desk and his chin in his hand, his mouth agape. His phone would be ringing nonstop that day, and mostly go unanswered. So much for getting over her and focusing on his work.

—-

_"And this is me praying that this was the very first page, not where the storyline ends. My thoughts will echo your name until I see you again. These are the words I held back as I was leaving too soon: I was enchanted to meet you."_

Cerie had done so much as to arrive at work early in the morning to place the slip of paper on his desk before he made it to work. She was determined to grab Kenneth's attention, even if it was as little as more frequent candy runs. She had even reduced to changing her relationship status to "Weirdsies" and doodling "Lost my 3 in Stone Mountain" on her notepad at work. She hadn't felt this way in a while. At first, she was confused on why she couldn't find herself to forget about their talk, but now that she was free of Aris, it all felt so natural to her. If someone at work had told her a few weeks prior that at this time she would have a hardcore crush on Kenneth Parcell, she probably wouldn't have heard them in the first place because she would've been texting or staring off into space. Still, she wouldn't have believed them. But now, she had seen him the way he really is, and she could safely admit to herself that he had really taken her by surprise and swept her off her feet.

_"Please don't be in love with someone else. Please don't have somebody waiting on you."_

—-

_'What if she wasn't the one that wrote the note?'_

_ 'What if she doesn't want him to say anything?'_

_ 'What if it was all some joke?'_

These were all the questions that rushed through Kenneth's mind as he hurriedly made his way to Cerie's own work desk while he knew she was getting Liz a snack from the bottom floor vending machine. He had to act fast. He quickly slipped into the room and placed his own piece of paper faced down on top of it. He thanked the heavens that the writers were too busy shooting Nerf darts at each other (instead of actually working) to notice him, or they surely would've investigated.

Smiling as he left the room, he hoped that the small returning gesture would be worth it.

—-

Cerie sat back down at her desk after going on a snack run for Liz. It took her a few seconds to notice the piece of paper on her desk…it couldn't be.

On the side facing up, there was nothing but a drawn on smiley face. She slowly flipped over to see the other side, and was greeted by the words she had been dreaming to see.

_"I was enchanted to meet you too._

_ I was never in love with someone else. I never had somebody waiting on me. 'Cause you were all of my dreams come true, and I just wish you knew: Cerie, I was so in love with you."_


End file.
